ROAD SAFETY PROTESTS

100 students arrested, 5,000 unnamed prosecuted in 52 cases in Dhaka

A file photo shows police take students arrested during recent protests to a Dhaka court.— UNB photo

At least 100 people, most of them students, were arrested in at least 52 cases filed between July 29 and August 15 with different police stations accusing over 5,000 unnamed people over the violence during the latest student movement for road safety.The police officials said the students took to the streets July 29 following the deaths of two of their fellows in Kurmitola bus accident but couple days later ‘intruders’ tried to deviate the movement to different channel.Dhaka Metropolitan Police said at least 81 people were arrested in 43 cases filed under different sections of Penal Code and Special Powers Act between July 29 and August 11 while the rest 16 individuals were arrested under eight cases filed Section 57 of Information and Communication Technology Act.A female student protestor Lutfan Nahar of Eden College was arrested on Wednesday.Criminal Investigation Department on Wednesday said that they arrested two students under controversial Section 57 of ICT act and were remanded in police custody for three days. CID’s organised crime unit said they arrested Ahmed Hossain, 19, of Noakhali and Nazmus Sakib, 24, of Dhaka in a case filed with Paltan Police Station on Wednesday under Section 57(2) and 66 of the ICT. Seven more cases under the ICT act were filed in different parts of the country while 53 named individuals including a former lawmaker Dewan Salauddin of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and 300 unnamed people were prosecuted with Savar police station on August 12, according to the police officials and case documents.The DMP statistics show 14 more cases filed with Raman police division under Penal Code and Section 57 of ICT Technology Act. At least 31 were arrested in those cases. Of the cases under Raman division, the Dhanmondi police station said a case was filed accusing 250 unnamed people while two other cases were filed against 750 others.In Gulshan, the police registered nine cases against 31 individuals and 2,450 other unnamed people while 26 people including 22 students of private universities were arrested. At Mirpur police division, police registered a case against 600 students and teachers of BUBT University and Commerce College while five other cases were filed with Kafrul police stations against at least 150 others.At Uttara, four cases were filed against 113 named and 150 other unnamed people over damaging vehicles during the protests launched on July 29 following the death of two students and injuring a dozen others. Of the cases, three were arrested so far. ‘In these cases, we have not prosecuted any students, but only the attackers who damaged vehicles,’ said Dhaka Metropolitan Police Uttara division deputy commissioner Navid Kamal Shoibal.At Tejgaon, police officials registered two cases against six individuals. Eight people including two named in the First Information Report were arrested so far. At Wari division, police officials said two cases were filed against 450 people for damaging two police vehicles and assaulting a policeman. One person was arrested in one of the two cases.At Motijheel, police registered six cases and arrested 10 individuals. DMP said the police arrested one in a case filed in Lalbagh division accusing 60 unnamed people. DMP so far accused 29 individuals in eight of their ICT cases and 16 individuals including acclaimed photographers Shahidul Alam. On August 2, cyber unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police prosecuted 28 social media and online news outlets under controversial Section 57 of Information and Communication Technology Act for allegedly instigating students during ongoing protest demanding road safety.Police in the first information report also said that the accounts of those who liked, shared and posted comments were prosecuted for twisting the demands of innocent students and causing anarchy. Najmul Islam, an additional deputy commissioner of the cyber security team, said they arrested one of the suspects in the case.Apart from this, Rapid Action Battalion arrested three students on similar charge in Dhaka for their Facebook post. Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib were killed as a Jabal-e-Noor bus ploughed through a crowd while competing with another bus of the same company.On August 4 and 5, the last two days of the protests, the city saw brutal assaults on students staging demonstrations and checking licence and registration of vehicles.